It won't hurt the clutch or transmission, but I've always downshifted without releasing the clutch as I
approach a stop.  That way if for any reason I have to take evasive action I'm already in the correct gear to
do it.

==========================

 It's pretty hard on the brake life.

Doing that is highly illegal if there is any slope to the road.  Nearly
all areas of the world say it is a 'big' no no to coast in neutral down
any slope.

It also appears to be a subjective law.  The cop's word vs yours eh.

I 'have' been pulled over for doing exactly what you describe on a down
hill in Canada.  Either the cop saw the shifting action or he noticed
the way the vehicle 'floats' with the suspension unloaded like he said
and other cops have said when it gets brought up.  It is far too easy to
lose control.

Even sitting at a stop light in neutral isn't a good idea and is frowned
on in some areas.  If you are in neutral, you might not have time to get
it in gear to get out of the way if someone misses the light or turn or
whatever.

I normally use 3rd while coming to the stop, then shift to 1st while
waiting to go.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

If you?re foot?s off the gas, it wouldn?t matter either way, but
keeping it in gears saves the brakes. The only way you could use more
gas with your foot off the accelerator is if you had a carberator AND
a mechanical fuel pump, but that?s a pretty rare combination on late
model cars.

You won't save any fuel at all, or at the most, very negligibly, by
doing this.  Neither will it damage the transmission at, since in
neutral with the clutch released, the engine and transmission are
completely disconnected.

It's really a matter of preference, if you downshift with the clutch
depressed, just depress the clutch and stay in gear, or shift to
neutral.  While downshifting with the clutch will mean you'll be in the
correct gear (assuming you know how quickly or slowly to downshift based
on deceleration), it also means you have to keep depressing the clutch.

As far as transmission wear goes, you're actually "wearing it out" the
most by depressing the clutch and downshifting before a stop, since you
are wearing out the pressure plate.  However, as far as the actual wear
goes over the life of the car, this wear is fairly negligible.

My personal preference is to shift to neutral as soon as I see a light
turn red and know it will still be red when I get to it.  That's just
because I'm lazy and don't feel like holding down the clutch.  However,
if you are just starting off with a standard, the best method is
probably to downshift with the clutch depressed, as long as you don't
try to rush the downshifting, and just downshift normally, so that if
you do need to declutch, you won't be in too low a gear and over-rev the
engine.

As far as technique goes at a traffic light, if I know I'll be waiting a
while, I shift to neutral.  But if I don't know how long I'll be
waiting, I shift to first and depress the clutch so I can go as soon as
it changes, as a courtesy to those behind me.